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Moving piece by Ray Allen in The Players' Tribune

Jay in Toronto : 2/8/2020 6:05 pm
reminding us to remember what unites us, reminding us we are all human.

A fine example how an athlete can use his fame for the greater good.

PLEASE do not turn this into a political thread.


Why I Went To Auschwitz - ( New Window )
I met him and his wife and kids on an elevator in  
bradshaw44 : 2/8/2020 6:42 pm : link
Atlantis in the Bahamas. I didn’t tell him I knew who he was though. He seemed like a great guy. His kids were about 2-7 year of age varying. The oldest kid asked him a question about the fish in the acquarium, so Allen tells this kid if he can find the information out for himself by the end of breakfast and report it back to Ray he will give him $20. He then told them all if they eat their full breakfasts he would also give them $20. He was clearly an involved and engaging parent that encouraged his kids to learn and eat healthy and do the right things essentially.

The only thing I found to be a little funny was his wife (or I presume it was his wife) stood all of 4’11” tall or so. Maybe she’s taller and we just thought looked smaller then she did because he’s so tall. But my wife was in there with me and she’s only 5’1” and was clearly taller than her.

I know, cool story bro.
Thanks...  
Phatbrew : 2/8/2020 6:55 pm : link
For sharing Rays story!!! Great uplifting post!!!
Ray Allen has always been one of my favorite players even though he  
Ira : 2/8/2020 7:03 pm : link
never played for the Knicks. Thanks for posting this article.
jay and ray: Auschwitz has become a symbol of the “holocaust”, a name  
plato : 2/8/2020 7:17 pm : link
of Greek derivation for “burnt offerings” which my family was definitely not, and Auschwitz as a symbol has its difficulties as it is a “lager” that was a combined arbeitslager (work camp) and vernichtungslager, (annhilation camp) where one million Jews were gassed and burned in Birkenau upon arrival. They never wore the uniforms that those pictures displayed of other prisoners in the arbeitslager.

I appreciate your visit to the symbol of the “Shoah” the destruction of European Jewry by the National Socialist Germans and their Allies. I wish you would have tried to contact someone to explain the destruction of three million Jews in Treblinka, Sobibor, and Belzec from 1941 -1943 and the silence of Pope Pius the XII throughout. Maybe then posting a picture with happy Sisters would have been seen as less appropriate and even disturbing to some who might view it.

Yes I don’t know if I would risk my children’s live to save people trying to hide in a hostile “sea”. But I also would try to understand the appropriateness of photographs in places of mass death based on who they were and not what they did.

And Jay if you consider this “political” than either you really don’t understand the symbolism of Auschwitz to different people or the meaning of “political”, or perhaps both.
We always used to bribe our kids to get them to get them to shape up.  
Ivan15 : 2/8/2020 7:21 pm : link
Parenting 101
Plato...  
Phatbrew : 2/8/2020 8:14 pm : link
Your info is informative n appreciated, but ur attack on Ray n Jay is misguided n on the mark about please don’t make it political, cuz you did, referencing the smiling nuns n the pope...

Ray n to a lesser extent Jay are sharing their experiences and or thoughts about a horrible time in history, focusing on humanity, not what could have been better or what was worse, I appreciate Rays sentiments n Jay for posting!!!
Great piece  
GiantTuff1 : 2/8/2020 11:07 pm : link
Ray is a thinker, and proud to see him pull lessons like that away from his experience.
putting you're family on the line for strangers in order to do the  
MM_in_NYC : 2/8/2020 11:22 pm : link
right thing is profound.

i hope to have that strength. and that it is never necessary.

and that others find the strength to do it for me if it is ever is necessary.

i hope we've moved forward since that time and that even greater numbers of people would reject the authority forcing that reality.

while it is easy to hear in my head the loud and vocal hate provocateurs, and part of me fears we have regressed, i think a closer examination would show even greater numbers would make the sacrifice.

we must remember what happened and what politics can drive us to be blind towards. and we must always search for the strength to be good to one an other above all else.
Abraham Lincoln first inaugural address  
Jay in Toronto : 2/8/2020 11:43 pm : link
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Met him very briefly in  
TommyWiseau : 2/9/2020 9:35 am : link
NYC many years back. I was trying to hail a cab for me and my elderly grandmother, he hails one himself. See's that I was trying to get one and waves me over. He then lets my grandmother take the cab from him. She thanked him a bunch and as I put her in the car I just turned to him and said "Thanks Ray" and he gave a smile. Stand up guy
Nice article.  
GiantsUA : 2/9/2020 12:02 pm : link
.
Thank you for posting this  
Matt M. : 2/9/2020 3:57 pm : link
I read this when it was first published. Reading it again was equally as moving. I will admit to tearing up.

This especially hits home for me, as my kids have been scared by the anti-Semitic acts in the last few months both in the NYC area and abroad. Yet, scared and all, my 10 year old son decided for Chanukah this year he wanted tzitzit. For this who aren't familiar, it is the under garment with strong a you see hanging out of the shirts of some orthodox Jewish men. He has been wearing it everyday since, as well as a yarmulke. He has answered some questions about this decision at school, but does so with dignity and pride, as expressed to us by his teachers. He has been a real inspiration for us.

I have passed rhis article on to someone in my office who plans discussions re: racial equity for our office. Sadly, I expect this to be denied, as my boss was previously told anti-Semitism doesn't fit the agenda. Either way, I am glad to have re-read this.
Great  
AcidTest : 2/9/2020 5:44 pm : link
article. Thanks.
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